NESTING EPISODES NEAR HOME 103 



a close view from above, showing bird, nest and eggs. 

 So I moved the camera nearer, and the bird actually 

 allowed me to take the picture, her white-ringed eyes 

 staring in such a manner that no one could doubt 

 what sort of a vireo she was. 



Later visits were made after the young were 

 hatched. The birds returned and fed the young in 

 my presence, as I sat quietly a little way off, and I se- 

 cured some pictures of the feeding process by using a 

 mirror to reflect light, as I am unwilling to make a 

 practice of removing occupied nests from their sur- 

 roundings. On June 30 I made the final trip. The 

 young had left the first nest some time before this. 

 On the 26th those in the second nest were practically 

 featherless and about half-grown, but now, in four 

 days they had become fledged and had gone. As I 

 was departing I had the good luck to spy one of them 

 perched in a briar-clump ten feet from the deserted 

 nest. There was no harm now in removing it, so I 

 planted it a few feet out in the sunlight, and perched 

 the youngster on its edge, after a few futile efforts 

 of his to escape. The feeding process was soon in 

 active operation, and I secured some beautiful pic- 

 tures. 



Another " find " near the vireos was an oven-bird's 

 nest, on June 12. The bird darted out from a layer 

 of dry leaves in an opening in the woods by a path, 

 and I readily found the nest under the leaves, arched 

 over in the usual manner. There were four eggs, 

 one of them a cowbird's. That day I did not exper- 



